The Architects of Notre-Dame

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Eugène-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc (1814 –1879)

Eugène Viollet-le-Duc was in his thirties when he won the competition for the restoration of the Cathedral with Jean Baptiste Lassus. A civil servant of the Historical Monuments, he had led the restoration project of the Vézelay Basilica at the age of 26. Self-taught, he had learned on the roads of Italy. When submitting their project, Lassus and Viollet-le-Duc proposed a moral charter to demonstrate “religious discretion” and “complete self-denial.” Notre-Dame was the most significant restoration project of the time. It took place from 1844 to 1864, with a hiatus between 1851 and 1859 due to financial constraints. During this extensive project, his fame grew as critics either praised or denounced his work.

Viollet-le-Duc approached the renovation of the building in a modern and unprecedented way. He based his work on a documentary corpus made from old drawings. He methodically studied the monument, analyzing every detail to understand its articulations and changes over time. The architect supplemented his knowledge of medieval construction materials and techniques and asked some artisans to set up their workshops at the foot of the cathedral. He compiled his observations in his “Dictionnaire raisonné de l’architecture française du XIe au XIVe siècle.” In it, he explained his restoration philosophy. According to him, no architectural building surpasses the beauty of Notre-Dame. During his work, he constantly faced a dilemma: to restore the original medieval state or to retain the historical traces. He often adopted compromises or interpreted the original architecture with additions in the medieval style, which his contemporaries criticized him for.

Pierre de Chelles

Pierre de Chelles, the son or nephew of Jean de Chelles, succeeded Pierre de Montreuil. His intervention began around 1296 with the chapels of the apse. He then worked on the flying buttresses above the apse. From 1300 to 1318, he worked on the construction of the rood screen and its sculpted decoration in the choir screen. After his death, the architects Jean Ravy from 1318 to 1344, and then Jean Le Bouteiller, finalized his work.

Pierre de Montreuil (Paris 1200 – Paris 1267)

Pierre de Montreuil participated in the greatest construction projects of his time: the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés in 1239 and then the Basilica of Saint-Denis around 1247. When he succeeded Jean de Chelles on the project, he owed his reputation to his innovative construction approaches. His intervention on the cathedral was major: he erected large round pillars on which the ribbed vaults rest. Thus, the architecture rises directly and uninterruptedly from the ground to the vaults. He proposed understanding forms through simple and harmonious lines. He enlarged the nave and aisles and modified the vaults and the choir nave. Externally, he worked on the apse, the transept arms, the transept ends, and the south portal. He adorned the triforium with stained glass. He is credited with the emergence of the “Gothic” style. In 1265, named master of works of the cathedral of Paris, he was identified at his death as “doctor lathomorum,” meaning master in stone construction.

Jean de Chelles or Jehan de Chelles (1200-1258)

In the Middle Ages, architects were rarely mentioned. They were known as masons or “master builders.” Jean de Chelles is identified thanks to an ancient inscription placed on the south transept. The mention of an architect, exceptional in the Middle Ages, proves the decisive role he was recognized for at his death in 1258.

Jean de Chelles imposed a new architectural concept based on large stained-glass windows cut into the walls. He reused the technique successfully employed in 1231 at the Basilica of Saint-Denis by the “Master of Saint Denis,” who may be himself. He undertook the construction of the north transept, the design, and the beginning of the realization of the south arm adorned with the Saint-Étienne portal.

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